Russia: As Alexander Kulikov, the company’s Deputy CEO for sales, told Gudok, current production is the same as it was in 2022.
“We have started to produce more tank cars and hoppers, less flatcars and practically no gondola cars”, Kulikov said.
The representative of RM Rail also pointed out that the cost of producing freight cars increased by 65% since 2022. The increase is explained by the rise in the cost of raw materials, overheads, and even a significant increase in labour costs. According to Gudok, from November 2022 to November 2023, the price of steel, beams, channels, brakes, wheels, axles, bearings, and other components at least doubled.
By the end of 2024, Alexander Kulikov expects production in Russia to reach 50,000–55,000 cars, which is lower than in 2023. The expected decline is due to the continued increase in production costs, which lead to higher prices for cars. At the same time, Kulikov stresses that RM Rail’s backlog of orders was already full at the end of December last year. “We are working on creating additional capacity both through optimisation and through a partnership with other companies”, Gudok quotes him as saying.
